Cap gun fired inside East Gwillimbury movie theatre

Weapons charge

A man faces a weapons charge after a cap gun was repeatedly fired inside a York Region theatre last weekend.
Georgina resident Thomas Ormston, 33, was catching The Bourne Legacy at the SilverCity near Yonge Street and Green Lane Saturday night at about 10 p.m.
From about two rows up, Mr. Ormston heard yelling and then saw a man in one of the aisles pull out what appeared to be a handgun.
“I’m staring at it,” he recalled. “It looked just like a .22 (calibre) revolver.”
The weapon had no orange tip on it, which is standard for toys.
The man holding the firearm then began squeezing the trigger repeatedly, Mr. Ormston said.
As soon as he heard the crack of the caps, he knew it was a fake, but that didn’t placate him or several others in the theatre.
“Even that ‘bang’ sound scared a lot of people,” he said.
A woman just a few rows away was crying.
“She was very upset,” he added.
Gun violence — including a mass shooting at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado July 20 that left 12 dead and another 58 wounded and a block party shooting in Scarborough July 16 that left two dead and 23 injured — has been a high-profile issue across North America this summer.
After the theatre incident, Mr. Ormston said he approached the building’s management and employees asked the man with cap gun to leave.
Mr. Ormston said he found that response inadequate.
York Regional Police were called and Mr. Ormston said he blocked the man, who was trying to leave.
“He didn’t see any seriousness in it until I was in his face,” he added.
Officers were sent to the theatre after a report a man inside had fired a cap gun twice, Const. Blair McQuillan said. They arrested a man exiting the building.
“York Regional Police remains mindful of how global events impact the community on a local level,” Const. McQuillan said in an e-mail. “As a result, when a major event occurs, our officers are directed to take proactive measures to ensure community safety. These measures could include simply speaking to members of the community to comfort them in a time of crisis or to increase patrols at specific venues or in specific locations in an effort to prevent similar incidents from occurring in our region.”
York police has dealt with incidents involving objects that appear to be handguns on buses, in parks and on the street.
Officers will deal with a firearm as if it is real and capable of firing deadly ammunition until they can prove otherwise, he warned.
“Not everybody knows they are a toy and we won’t treat them as a toy,” Const. McQuillan added.
The man with the cap gun was immediately removed, the police were called and the man is now banned from the theatre for two years, Pat Marshall, communications and investor relations vice-president for Cineplex, which operates the theatre, said in an e-mail.
“The safety and security of our theatre staff and guests remain our number one priority,” Ms Marshall said.
A 21-year-old Aurora man is charged with possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
He was released and is to appear at the Newmarket courthouse Sept. 17.